Melbourne Graduate School of Education Centre for the Study of Higher Education

National seminar on the public funding of teaching in the humanities and social sciences

30 June 2011

9am — 4.30pm
Venue: Theatre G08
The University of Melbourne Law School,
185 Pelham Street, Carlton
Victoria

A4 flyer

Program

See articles by Simon Marginson on the topic of the seminar: The Age 22 March 2011: ‘In search of fairness in funding’
The Age 31 May 2011: 'Opportunity knocks'
Times Higher Education 14 July 2011: 'Liberal thinking'
Simon Marginson, 'The view of UK tuition fees from the rest of the world', The Guardian (UK) 13 September 2011

PPT: The Politics of the Public - Andrew Norton
PPT: Key Points - John Freebairn

Paper: Backdating the present: joining the Humanities conversation from China- Stephanie Donald

Does teaching in higher education in the social sciences and humanities, which enrol over 750,000 students in Australia, create public benefits? To what extent should that teaching be publicly funded, and are levels of funding adequate to provide good quality teaching and learning? These questions have suddenly become part of the current policy agenda. In December 2010 the UK Coalition government announced that public subsidies for teaching in the social sciences and humanities would be abolished in all higher education in England. Teaching will be entirely funded by student tuition charges. Meanwhile in Australia the federal government is conducting a Review of Base Funding for Higher Education, chaired by former South Australian Minister for Education Jane Lomax-Smith, which will report at the end of October 2011.

At the national seminar on the public funding of teaching in the social sciences and humanities an outstanding group of experts from a range of disciplines will open up these issues for intellectual exploration and public discussion:
Barry McGaw, Margaret Sheil, John Freebairn, Peter Sheehan, Andrew Norton, Lindsay Tanner, Glyn Davis, Stuart Macintyre, Stephanie Trigg, Stephi Donald, Graeme Turner and
John Armstrong.

Sponsored by the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.